Making a Coffee Table Wargame

Hi again,

Today I did something I've been intending on doing for a while - make a coffee table sized gaming mat. I first had the idea when I did my 3mm modern forces for Fistful of Tows 3. I placed an order today for some 2mm Irregular Miniatures WW2 stuff (Soviets and Germans) and so I figured the time was right to finally bring my idea to life. I had done a previous game mat for a full sized table and took the lessons I learnt from that to make this one. Using clump foliage and tea towels underneath for elevation along with some Monopoly buildings I think the table looks quite good! I think I'll have to order some proper buildings though...

I'm unsure what ruleset I'll use on the table but scaling ranges down will be a must. I already have Fistful of TOWs 3 and am familiar with it but have also purchased Kampgruppe Commander III from Wargames Vault and am liking what I'm reading. Decisions! Until next time. :)

Fields are spray painted on. The roads and rivers are painted on with cheap poster acrylic paint.

Setup with terrain. I envisioned this as a Soviet attack from the left table edge on a German defensive line protecting the town.

Small hills have a big impact at this scale.

3mm O8 modern armour. I think 2mm will be even better a fit.

By Fire and Sword - Muscovite Boyar Sons

Well!

It's been hot and humid in Queensland lately which has resulted in my painting pace slowing to a snail's crawl. The last 6 bases of Boyar Sons I've been painting took nearly 2 weeks to paint. It's been a stage here and there as I try and paint in the few tolerable moments. The inks I'm using have been fantastic. I actually find it kind of annoying to do the metallic areas with regular paint as the inks are so easy!

I still have plenty of bases assembled and awaiting paint. A commander, 6 boyars with spears and 6 dvorian bases gives me plenty to paint. I also have more on the way, with ANOTHER box of border dragoons (that'll make three...), a regiment of streltsy (defensive musket armed troops with big axes!) and 6 bases of Zavoivodchicy. The zavoivodchicy are really exciting for me - they resemble spear armed, armoured boyars. This reminds me of what it was like to paint Tatar elite cavalry so I'm looking forward to painting them.

9 bases of Boyar Sons. These are all my regular Boyars - onto the spear armed Boyars next

The army as it stands. Plenty to go!

By Fire and Sword - Muscovite Border Dragoon Regiment

Hello again for my first proper post of 2020!

Today I finished the commander for my Muscovite border dragoon regiment for By Fire and Sword. This is a full sized regiment though it does lack any artillery. The border dragoons come in a box of 12 bases, so this here is two boxes worth. I actually have a third box coming which will complete the border dragoon contingent of my division with my intent to field two midsize regiments of 18 bases each.

These dragoons were painted using a new technique for me - using artists' or drawing inks (over a grey primer with a white drybrush) to provide the base coat and shade in one. If this sounds similar to the idea of Games Workshop's new line of contrast paints then you're not wrong. These inks are not at all like a shade or wash typically used as a second step after base coating - they're much more heavily pigmented. After being painted with the inks the models were given a quick highlight with regular paints. The result is bright models painted quickly to a standard I'm happy with. Worth noting is much like any paint line the inks vary in their properties, even within a single line. I'm using Liquitex and Vallejo products. Liquitex state on the bottle whether the ink is opaque, semi-opaque or transparent. Transparent ones typically need two coats for a good effect while the opaque cover very, very well. Vallejo doesn't label as well in terms of opacity but is generally more consistent accross the line. Well worth a try if you haven't used these products before!

The regiment!

The Golova (commander of the regiment)

2019 Retrospective

As 2019 nears its end, I thought I'd take a look back at my successes in this hobby. This blog is largely a way for me to self-motivate - to get things painted so they can take pride of place here as well as on the tabletop. In that, I think it's succeeded. I started university this year and so had to significantly tighten my hobby budget. Good bye Games Workshop, and bar a few miniatures from Russia (cheap!) good bye to 28mm altogether. This year I've moved to largely small scale gaming (15mm and below), including my first forays into 6mm and 10mm. In fact, the bulk of the year has been taken up by painting 6mm, initially with WW1 and then onto the Napoleonic Wars. Late in the year I really threw myself back into 15mm with By Fire and Sword, my favourite wargame of all time. The photos below cover what I've been working on in the past few weeks and what I'll be working on in 2020. I hope you enjoy!

Kings of War - Abyssal Dwarfs
I received some of The Russian Alternative's "dwarfs of fire canyon" (chaos/abyssal dwarfs) this month. These models are really cheap (thanks Russia!) but of a really fine quality. I'll be using them for Kings of War. Probably only aiming for around 1500 points as I'm not interested in painting a million 28mm models anymore!!!

The Russian Alternative's Khadai (the big guy) and some dwarf infantry. Great resin models!

By Fire and Sword
As mentioned above, BFaS is my favourite wargame of all time. After not painting 15mm for months I finally got back into and finished off my Tatar skirmish box set before adding another six bases in the past week.

Tatar Elite Cavalry. I finished these three bases yesterday.

My Tatar force is slowly coming along. It's now a mid-sized skirmish force. This should grow to a medium size task force.

6mm Napoleonic Russians
The 6mm train continues along. In the past couple of weeks I finished four bases of dragoons for my Napoleonic Russians. These models are great, with heaps of detail. Two more bases to go and the cavalry contingent is completely finished.

Loved painting these guys!

If you're eagle eyed you might notice the detail work is slightly different on each base. Each base represents a different regiment.

Banner detail

Finally starting to look like an army!

The cav

6mm mass effect...

Into 2020

I have three priorities going into next year. The first is to continue along with my Napoleonic Russians before I switch in 6mm back to my WW1 project. I also have a small 10mm ACW project to complete. Finally (and perhaps for me most excitingly)... more BFaS! The beginnings of my Muscovites appeared in the mail yesterday and I'm already painting! I can't help it, I'm a bit of a Russophile...

Fun!

My first border dragoons, painted mostly with artists' inks. Expect this to take up most of the posts early in the year!

Thanks for reading! If you wish comment below with what you got done and what you're moving on to in the new year!

A Fistful of Tows 3 - Battle Report

I recently got a game of A Fistful of TOWs 3 with Glenn and Jason. This report will be reasonably short on the text as I'm writing a few days after the event. We played the game on a ping pong table (about 9x5) running across the width. Glenn had a USMC armoured task force while I fielded two Swedish armoured battalions. We were going up against a Jason's Soviets consisting of a T-80B armoured regiment and a BMP-2 motorised regiment.

We're all still learning the game and have struggled previously to get the terrain mix right (open ground tends to favour the long range NATO MBTs while close terrain can let the Soviet numbers get in close and do huge damage). Thankfully this game we seem to have found the right balance. The game felt right, with Jason concerned about exposing his T-80s over the open ground while NATO found it difficult to get shots on well placed Soviet battalions. In the end the Soviets prevailed, the BMP-2s encircling and then bypassing a Swedish mechanised infantry battalion on the NATO right to take one of their objective roads. Soviet artillery demolished our sole M1A1 company and the Swedish S-tanks got annihilated when they left cover to chase the Soviets in the late game. The game was called after the NATO armour evaporated (probably around turn 7). Lesson learnt - outside of cover S-tanks are rubbish. Low armour, a 105mm gun and lack of stabilisation make them difficult to use  against 80s-era Soviet armour unless camping the woods on overwatch! Overall a fun day. :)

Swedish APCs prepare to drop off infantry in the ruined town

S-tanks! Their doom would be leaving this forest...

Marine recon scouts the main road. Glenn forgot his LAVs so Luchs had to stand in...

So... many... BMPs

T-80Bs

They get how many tanks???

USMC M-60 Pattons support Swedish infantry occupying the woods,,,

And also support the infantry in the town

M1A1s had a great position on the hill. TOW2 armed humvees lurk far left.

NATO's most powerful unit on the field was supressed and eventually crushed by concentrated Soviet artillery

T-80s advancing

Soviet infantry threaten the Swedes. The Swedes held a firm position and were basically untouchable in these woods... so Jason just drove around. Once the M60s were gone the BMPs had a clear run to the objective.

M60s held in the centre with Swedish infantry until BRDMs used a hill to slowly missile the company to death

Jason used the hedges effectively to hide his T-80s from NATO's superior range

Not many T-80s left on the left after TOW humvees tore apart nearly a battalion in one turn. Guided missiles are deadly if given an opportunity!

Hobby Update - 16/12/19

Hi there!

It's been a slow time for my hobby lately but I'm finally kicking back into gear. These are some of the projects I've been working on lately.

6mm Napoleonics
Work on my 6mm Russian army has focused on dragoons lately. This project has been on a slow burn lately with distractions in the form of By Fire and Sword, Kings of Wars and 10mm ACW. I had painted a fair chunk for my army and needed a break. Starting back with four bases of dragoons. These have all been basecoated and washed. The green is highlighted as well so now I just have to finish the highlights and base them. These figures have been staring at me on my painting desk for a while so it's good to be nearing completion.

By Fire and Sword
Alongside the Tatars from my last post I've been doing some experiments with inks. These aren't typical washes like Games Workshop's or Army Painter's washes, but instead are highly pigmented inks that can basically be applied as a basecoat and wash in one. Hmm, sounds a lot like GW's contrast paints without the marketing... The two bases below were painted entirely with Vallejo's game ink line. The figures were primed grey then drybrushed white. The base on the right had highlights applied with regular paints, the left base is only the inks. I have a bit more experimenting to do and have added some Liquitex brand inks to help bulk out the collection. I'm really interested in this approach and will be using it to rapidly paint a Muscovy army that I have coming from Poland.

Kings of War
For a long time I've had a bunch of Russian Alternative "Dwarfs of Fire Canyon" (chaos dwarfs/abyssal dwarfs) lying around. I recently picked up the Kings of War rulebook and decided to rebase what I had already painted and finish figures I've already started. I have the next batch of figures basecoated and washed so they won't take long. I multibased these in a very simple fashion as I usually use grasslands tables. I think they came out well and I have some more figures on the way. This blog won't contain much sci-fi or fantasy stuff but this project will be an exception. Russian Alternative make really great looking figures at an affordable price for 28mm.

By Fire and Sword - Tatar Skirmish Force

A quick post today as I was having trouble taking photos! I finished my Kazindji (Tatar Rabble) and Jasyr (slaves) for my Crimean Khanate force for By Fire and Sword. This completes the Tatar Skirmish Set box that's been a slow burn for ages. I have another box to do alongside some extra Tatar Warriors and Elite Warriors which will allow me to field a mid-size task force. This army is going to be one of my smaller By Fire and Sword armies and conveniently also usable as allies in my upcoming Muscovy army...

Warriors left, Jasyr middle, Kazindji rear right, Warriors with spears front right.

Hope you like them!